Global Measurement Standard Drafted

The agreement came at the 2nd European Summit on Measurement after the leaders of five global PR and measurement and evaluation bodies and 200 delegates voted overwhelmingly to adopt seven primary principles that could guide public relations measurement and evaluation in the future.

The ‘Barcelona Declaration of Research Principles':

Goal setting and measurement are fundamental aspects of any PR programmes.

Media measurement requires quantity and quality - cuttings in themselves are not enough.

Advertising Value Equivalents (AVEs) do not measure the value of PR and do not inform future activity.

Social media can and should be measured.

Measuring outcomes is preferred to measuring media results.

Business results can and should be measured where possible.

Transparency and Replicability are paramount to sound measurement.

The keynote debate was chaired by AMEC Board Director, David Rockland, Partner/CEO Ketchum Pleon Change and Global Research and Chairman of AMEC's US Agency Research Leaders Group. Joining together on the same platform for the first time were representatives of co-developer organizations: The Global Alliance, IPR Measurement Commission, AMEC, PRSA and ICCO.

Barry Leggetter, Executive Director of AMEC, said: "We see this as a major step forward. What will happen next is that the five organisations involved in the Debate will work with us in a process of consultation and have the Principles finally agreed to by the end of July." One aspect of the remaining consultations will address the relevance of the Principles not only to business but also to all kids of organizations and institutions.

David Rockland said: "We want to be able to remember the Barcelona Summit as a powerful moment in time in the history of public relations when we acknowledged the need to replace outdated programme measurement models" The Summit was organized by the Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) and the Institute for Public Relations.